SANS NewsBites is a semiweekly high-level executive summary of the most important news articles that have been published on computer security during the last week. Each news item is very briefly summarized and includes a reference on the web for detailed information, if possible.

Spend five minutes per week to keep up with the high-level perspective of all the latest security news. New issues are delivered free every Tuesday and Friday.

"To put it kindly, this is odd logic when it comes to preventing information leaks. Having an individual admin action impact 1000% more servers because there are 90% fewer admins means fewer small mistakes/malicious internal actions but more very, very large mistakes/malicious actions. Rogue traders costing financial services companies many billions of dollars in unauthorized huge commands to automated trading systems have shown this for years. If you don't vet the admins better, if you don't improve the training, if you don't improve the processes, if you don't improve the security controls, you don't improve by concentrating the risk into fewer people."

- -- SANS Virginia Beach 2013 Virginia Beach, VA August 19-30, 2013 10 courses. Bonus evening presentations include Thanks for Recovering ... Now I Can Hack You!; Everything I Know is Wrong!; and So What? The Most Important Question in Information Security. Keynote Address: APT: It is Time to Act. http://www.sans.org/event/virginia-beach-2013

Malware targeting Android devices has been found to be spreading through mobile advertisement networks. Many developers include advertising frameworks in their apps to help boost profits. Advertisements in mobile apps are served by code that is part of the app itself. An attack scheme in Asia involved a rogue ad network pushing code onto devices. When users download and install legitimate apps, the malware prompts users to approve its installation, appearing to be part of the process for the app they have just downloaded. -http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9241596/New_Android_malware_is_being_distributed_through_mobile_ad_networks?taxonomyId=17[Editor's Note (Murray): To John's point (on the previous story) about the Internet of things, the Androids are too young to have learned anything from the choices we made with the PC. They did not consider the implications of their success. ]*************************** Sponsored Links: ****************************** 1) Tool Talk Webcast: Essential Tools for Testing and Securing a Mobile Applications Portfolio. Thursday, August 22, 2013 at 1:00 PM EDT. http://www.sans.org/info/137447

GitHub Repository Hit by DDoS Attack (August 15, 2013)

Online code repository GitHub experienced a service outage on Thursday, August 15, the result of a "very large DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack." This is the fourth DDoS attack on GitHub in the last month. -http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/15/github_ddos/

Federal authorities in Wisconsin have arrested Jeffrey Feldman after they managed to break the encryption on two drives seized from his residence earlier this year and found that they contained images of child pornography. An FBI agent said that there are seven additional drives that have not been decrypted. Prosecutors expect that Feldman will decrypt the drives, but his attorney said, "We do not intend to decrypt." -http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/08/feds-crack-encrypted-drives/-http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/08/kid-porn-decryption-flap/[Editor's Note (Murray): Court opinion is converging on this. Courts will not compel decryption without probable cause. Said another way, police cannot compel decryption to conduct a fishing expedition, but criminals cannot use encryption to conceal evidence. In this case, I think a judge will find probable cause to believe that these drives contain evidence. The accused and his lawyers will have to decide whether the penalties for contempt trump those for the crimes that the crypto conceals. ]

John Pescatore was Vice President at Gartner Inc. for fourteen years. He became a director of the SANS Institute in 2013. He has worked in computer and network security since 1978 including time at the NSA and the U.S. Secret Service.

Shawn Henry recently retired as FBI Executive Assistant Director responsible for all criminal and cyber programs and investigations worldwide, as well as international operations and the FBI's critical incident response. He is now president of CrowdStrike Services.

Stephen Northcutt teaches advanced courses in cyber security management; he founded the GIAC certification and was the founding President of STI, the premier skills-based cyber security graduate school, www.sans.edu.

Dr. Johannes Ullrich is Chief Technology Officer of the Internet Storm Center and Dean of the Faculty of the graduate school at the SANS Technology Institute.

Ed Skoudis is co-founder of CounterHack, the nation's top producer of cyber ranges, simulations, and competitive challenges, now used from high schools to the Air Force. He is also author and lead instructor of the SANS Hacker Exploits and Incident Handling course, and Penetration Testing course.

Michael Assante was Vice President and Chief Security Officer at NERC, led a key control systems group at Idaho National Labs, and was American Electric Power's CSO. He now leads the global cyber skills development program at SANS for power, oil & gas and other critical infrastructure industries.

Mark Weatherford is a Principal at The Chertoff Group and the former Deputy Under Secretary of Cybersecurity at the US Department of Homeland Security.

William Hugh Murray is an executive consultant and trainer in Information Assurance and Associate Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School.

Sean McBride is Director of Analysis and co-founder of Critical Intelligence, and, while at Idaho National Laboratory, he initiated the situational awareness effort that became the ICS-CERT.

Rob Lee is the SANS Institute's top forensics instructor and director of the digital forensics and incident response research and education program at SANS (computer-forensics.sans.org).

Tom Liston is a Senior Security Consultant and Malware Analyst for InGuardians, a handler for the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center, and co-author of the book Counter Hack Reloaded.

Dr. Eric Cole is an instructor, author and fellow with The SANS Institute. He has written five books, including Insider Threat and he is a founder with Secure Anchor Consulting.

Mason Brown is one of a very small number of people in the information security field who have held a top management position in a Fortune 50 company (Alcoa). He leads SANS' efforts to raise the bar in cybersecurity education around the world.

David Hoelzer is the director of research & principal examiner for Enclave Forensics and a senior fellow with the SANS Technology Institute.

Gal Shpantzer is a trusted advisor to CSOs of large corporations, technology startups, Ivy League universities and non-profits specializing in critical infrastructure protection. Gal created the Security Outliers project in 2009, focusing on the role of culture in risk management outcomes and contributes to the Infosec Burnout project.

Alan Paller is director of research at the SANS Institute.

Brian Honan is an independent security consultant based in Dublin, Ireland.

David Turley is SANS infrastructure manager and serves as production manager and final editor on SANS NewsBites.

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